Outer Hebrides Tour Part V: The Isle of Lewis

Despite being geographically all one island, everyone talks about the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis as separate entities. After cycling the one road that links these two regions it is not at all hard to see why.

The road from Harris to Lewis

We started up the steep hill on the A859 expecting it to end just around the bend. It did ease up a bit but  the expected descent never came. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more on what was one of the busier roads of the trip (though still nothing compared to the southeast!).  It was a cloudy and chilly day which made things even tougher, and we stopped by the side of the road near the turnoff to Rhenigdale for a snack, wondering where this mountain had come from and why none of the blogs we had read had saw fit to mention it!

Stopping near the top of the climb on the way to Lewis

Soon after, the road finally turned downwards, only for us to pick up a headwind, so the cycling wasn't that much easier. At the bottom we were officially welcomed to the Isle of Lewis which Alberto was convinced was 'much flatter than Harris'. Where he gets these strange ideas I'll never know.  Throughout this entire stretch we hadn't passed a single building of any sort, to say nothing of a building where we could find food!

We could see that the town of Airdbruaich was coming up and hoped to find something there...but the town came and went without any commercial enterprises to speak of. Instead we pulled into a bus shelter (to escape the wind) next to the Bonnie Prince Charlie Memorial to make a lunch out of the food we could find in our panniers--cheese and tomato sandwhiches were the main items on the menu. It was already on the late side by this point so we knew we needed to press on -- back out into the wind it was.

Lunch in a bus shelter

We had entered back into civilisation though and it wasn't long before we came to the next town, Baile Allen and spotted a gallery/cafe with a sign saying 'Cyclists Welcome'. It was all the invitation we needed to escape from the elements and have a hot drink. The tea and scones were very good, if the owner was a bit of a character. She reminded me of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.

But it was past 5pm and we had our sights set on Stornoway where there was a campsite (it had been too many days without a shower!). The scones left us feeling a bit funny for the first few km but we soon settled into a rhythm and were thrilled to be rolling into Stornoway at 7pm. We made a beeline for the Coop as we weren't sure what time it would close (turns out 11pm so we had nothing to worry about). It is a gigantic Coop, definitely the biggest I have ever seen, and to us it was like we had hit the jackpot. We wandered around in a daze after a very tough day, trying to figure out what to buy and overwhelmed with choices. We ended up with lots of good stuff including steaks for dinner!

The campsite was just down the road so we made our way there and got the tent set up before sundown. There's nothing special about the location or facilities but it was nice to be able to take a long hot shower. They even had a hairdryer which at that time felt like the best thing that had ever happened to me! By the time we had set up camp, showered, and Alberto had briefly forayed into Stornoway for fuel for the stove,  we didn't get around to cooking until nearly 10pm and didn't get to bed until midnight.

Bacon for breakfast

The following morning we had a massive breakfast with more treats from the Stornoway coop including bacon. We planned a bit of a sightseeing day, as there seemed to be actually more stuff to 'do' in Lewis, and we knew we had to stay close enough to Stornoway to head back the following morning for our afternoon ferry. We were on the road about 10:30 to head to the west coast of Lewis via the Pentland Road, an inland lane that takes you through the heart of Lewis' peat bogs. It was a lovely, very quiet road and very scenic, although with quite a different feel to the scenery on Harris. We had a tailwind on this part of the journey which certainly helped a lot--once we hit the coastal road it was a different matter.

Pentland Road

We made it to Callanish and checked out the famous standing stones there. They were not too busy and it was nice to be able to walk around and through them. We then had a coffee and cake at the visitor's centre there and chatted with two women cyclists who were credit-card touring on road bikes with only a minimum of luggage. They had come from Tarbert that morning! They told us about a beach nearby, Dal Mhor, and said it was a great camping spot if we decided to camp in the area. It was still early so we decided to wait and see as we headed up the A859, into the headwind, towards Carlabagh and Na Gearannan.

Callanish standing stones

Na Gearannan is a traditional village of blackhouses (as they are called) which was abandoned in the 1980s as the dwindling numbers of aging residents could no longer handle the harsh life that was required by living in those houses. It has now been revitalised as a tourist centre with information about traditional island life. We spent some time checking out the village and ran into our Newcastle campervan friends again in the gift shop.

It was mid-afternoon by that point, and we decided just to head to Dal Mhor and make an easy day of it for once. It would have been very quick to get there along the coast via a footpath but we took the road instead as the path didn't seem suitable for bikes. Once more into the headwind and up a few more hills, and we were there.

Camp at Dal Mhor

It did not disappoint. It was once of the best locations of the whole trip, and with public toilets as well. There was a cemetery just next to the parking lot, overlooking the ocean. Not a bad place for a final resting spot! We picked an out-of-the-way spot for the tent and put it up, then went for a walk up the hill nearby to take in the views. We had the place pretty much to ourselves, with a car arriving every now and then with people taking a look around and then heading off again. Then a car pulled up which had MTBs, skis, and surf boards, and a dog. That's a good way to travel! The couple came out and went surfing for a little while, then got back in their car and headed off.

Taking in the views from above

We had an early (as in, before the sun went down) dinner of pasta followed by cous cous and prepped things for breakfast so that we didn't have to cook in the morning. We were in our sleeping bags by 9:30pm for our last night in the Hebrides.

Sunset at Dal Mhor

At 7am the next morning we were up, and on the road by 9:30 to head back to Stornoway, again via the Pentland Road. We enjoyed it as much as we had the first time around, even though we didn't have the same cracking tailwind. We arrived in Stornoway around 11:15am and again headed straight to the Coop to buy some salmon for Alberto and some lunch food for the ferry ride. We also went to the Hebridean Chocolates factory on a residential road nearby and bought some gifts (and of course some chocolate for us!)--it was delicious.

We went into town and Alberto stopped in at a pharmacy to pick up some sunscreen, as his nose and ears had gotten quite badly burned and were even blistering slightly. Finally we stopped at the Stornoway Fish Smokers where we ended up with some smoked cheddar cheese. We got some for us and some to give to our Newcastle campervan friends, who we knew would be on the same ferry.

Soon we were boarding the ferry back to the mainland, with only the final push to Inverness ahead of us before the end of our Outer Hebrides tour...

(to be continued!)

Outer Hebrides Tour Part IV: The Isle of Harris

We had caught the last ferry of the day over to Leverburgh, on Harris, and hadn't stocked up on food or water before we left. We hoped to find a shop in town and then a spot to wild camp, all in the few hours before the sun went down.

Upon arrival in Leverburgh at about 7pm we learned that the shop was closed. We had some backup food, so that was not too much of an issue, but we needed water. We decided to circle back to the harbor where there was a restaurant and ask them for water. When we got there, we took a peek at the menu and decided it looked good! Another restaurant patron told us that the fish was so fresh, they were missing some of the items on the menu because the boat hadn't arrived yet. So we decided to treat ourselves.

We enjoyed some delicious local cuisine--seafood for Alberto and an island venison pie for me. It was delicious and made a nice change from our camp dinners. We filled up on water as well and headed off around the west side of Harris to find a spot to camp. We had heard there was a good spot in North Bay but as we passed by the town in the fading light, we didn't see anything (we later figured out you need to take the turnoff into the town itself, and go through to the other side of it to the beach).

West side of Harris (near Northbay) in the fading light

We kept pedalling, past the town of Borve, and the only spot that seemed remotely suitable was a picnic area next to the road, where two campervans were already parked, seemingly settling down for the night. We pressed on a bit longer but when nothing else presented itself we turned back to the picnic area. It was really getting dark by that point and we put on our headtorches to pitch our tent. The ground was pretty slanted and we were a bit too close to the road for our liking, but beggars can't be choosers.

As we were finishing up getting everything set up a guy came out of one of the campervans to offer us a drink. He was from Oban, living in Newcastle, and taking his parents-in-law around the Outer Hebrides for the very first time. He was very friendly and generously made me a cup of tea and gave Alberto a beer -- really can't ask for anything more than that!

Roadside camp spot the following morning

We slept well despite the less-than-ideal camping spot and woke up to another glorious sunny day. We chatted with the campervan people over breakfast and compared notes. They gave us a tourist map of the islands which was useful in that it showed cafes, and told us about Huisinis, a beach in North Harris where they were planning on heading for the night. It sounded great so we set our sights on that as well, though we weren't sure how far it would be for us as first we were planning to do a complete circle of south Harris, as we couldn't decide between the east and west sides, both of which were supposed to be spectacular.

We set off northwards along the west side. After about half an hour we passed a campsite in Seilebost. We could have made it if we'd known to head for it, but it didn't appear on our map. Oh well, it really wasn't too bad where we were. The west side of Harris did not disappoint, as we followed the coast with it's many beautiful beaches, and then had a long climb in the north of the island, before turning off to head south down the east coast and back to Leverburgh.

East coast of Harris

The east side of Harris was equally stunning, but completely different in feel. Although at times we were only a few meters above sea level, it felt like we were very high up because of the rugged landscape. We stopped for a snack at the Skoon art cafe near the town of Geocrab. It was so sunny that we sat outside as we had our tea and cakes. We really never pictured ourselves doing that in Scotland in April!

Eating outside at the Skoon Art Cafe

We arrived back in Leverburgh after stopping briefly to check out St Clement's Church in Rodel. We stopped in at the shop to stock up. We got some good items for dinner and snacks, but a lack of bread made lunch hard. We had some crackers, cheese, and fruit and in the parking lot of the shop, where we met another couple of cycle tourists who had just come off the ferry. They were doing roughly the same route as us but had a few more days to do it in. We headed off up the A859 together-ish but we were quite different paces. Alberto and I took the turn into North Bay and found the beach where we could have camped the night before, and also saw a fish shop where apparently they operated an honor box system -- we didn't get anything though.

This is the beach in North Bay that we were trying to find the night before

We got back on the A859 and surprised the other couple by passing them from behind again. They couldn't understand how they had gotten past us! The road was just as beautiful as it had been the first time, and soon we were passing our previous turnoff spot and headed for Tarbert. It took a bit longer than anticipated and we reached Tarbert just before 6, so we quickly hit up the shops for food and water. There was a local butcher so we picked out some sausages in addition to the usual dried foods and grains.

It was starting to get late, but it didn't seem like there was anywhere nearby to camp so we decided to head to Huisinis as we had originally wanted to. I don't know why we were convinved that the road to Huisinis would be relatively flat, perhaps because it went along the coast. But it was not flat. It was actually some of the worst hills we had encountered on the trip. I do believe I began cursing them at some point, but it didn't change things. We wanted to get to camp before dark so we just kept pushing, and after what seemed like hours we finally reached the beach. The beach was absolutely stunning, well worth all the effort. It felt like paradise (if paradise exists at 5 degrees C).

The road to Huisinis

Our campervan friends from the previous night were there already, and they were incredulous that we had made it there on our bikes. We had a good laugh about that and they let us use their disposable BBQs which were already hot to make our sausages. By the time we were eating it was dark again but we were content with our ride and drifted off to sleep planning a relaxed day to make up for two tough ones in a row. The other good thing about Huisinis beach was that it had public restrooms, which made washing up easier and made everything a bit more civilised.

We woke up on the early side due to the bright sunshine coming in to the tent. We decided to go for a walk around the fields before breakfast to take in the views from other angles. There were tons of rabbits out in the fields, though we seemed to scare them away whenever we got near. We packed the tent and headed back down to the beach to make breakfast. There was another young couple on bikes there who had spent two nights there but were getting ready to head off. They were on really cheap bikes and carrrying backpacks, and were mainly using the bikes because it seemed easier than bringing a car, rather than purposefully setting off on a bike tour.

Huisinis

We set off with a bit of dread to retrace our steps from the previous night. Actually, the road didn't seem so bad in reverse, we weren't sure whether it was because of a difference in gradient or because we knew what to expect this time around.

About two thirds of the way back to the main road we stopped to check out the North Harris Eagle Observatory. We asked some walkers who were headed back to their cars about the condition of the trail and they said it was passable by bike so we left our panniers at the entrance and set off on our bikes. It was a good test of their off-road capabilities. We reached the eagle observatory and hung out for a while waiting to see what we could see. We did spot the eagle after a time, though sadly we didn't have binoculars so we couldn't really see any great detail. Still, it was cool.

We headed back out to the road and then onto the main road which links Harris and Lewis. We knew there was a hill to climb but were not prepared for just how long it would be. This stretch between Harris and Lewis was the longest of the whole ride where we would not encounter any services, towns, or restaurants...

(to be continued!)

Touring the Outer Hebrides Part III: The Uists and Benbecula

The ferry docked at Eriskay

The ferry ride from Barra over to Eriskay was less than an hour long but we mainly spent it inside due to the cloudy and windy weather which made it uncomfortable to be outside when we weren't generating body heat by riding. We arrived on Eriskay and climbed a big hill almost immeadiately. Soon after, we realised that the wind was actually an incredibly tailwind for us -- we were in for a fast day's riding.

Eriskay is quite small and in no time we were pedalling across the causeway which links Eriskay to South Uist. We enjoyed the tailwind all the way to Daliburgh where we found a Coop to restock on food and have some lunch. We made ourselves sandwhiches in the Coop parking lot, using the building as a wind-block.

 A little further up the road we diverted off the main road as we were curious about a beach we saw on the map. It only took a few kilometers (with crosswind of course) to reach the western coast of the island, and we then realised there was a short path to take us to the village of Howmore, which we had intended to divert to as well. We did the path on the bikes without a problem with the exception of one section where sand had built up making riding impossible. Howmore has a Gatliff Trust hostel which we would have loved to have used had it coincided with a sensible sleeping point for us, but we took a look around nonetheless as it is based in a traditional Hebridean Blackhouse. There were also some ruins in the village of former churches and the like.

The path - Howmore in the distance

As it was still too early to stop we headed back to the main road and then decided to divert again, this time to the East on the B890 which was intriguing in that it was a relatively major road which seemingly went to nowhere. This was an incredibly rewarding ride despite the headwind on the outgoing leg, with a rugged landscape, plenty of wild ponies by the side of the road, and several adorable baby lambs.

Wild pony, wild landscape on the B890

We retraced our steps and let the wind carry us across the causeway onto Benbecula. We decided to take the long way around the island by diverting off of the main road, which was convenient as we passed another Coop (where we had to stop to buy a beer, as it must be bad luck to pass a Coop without stopping on this kind of tour!) and a campsite. The campsite really didn't look like anything special so we decided to press on looking for a wild camping spot - but it was nice to know that we could head back to it if we became desperate.

Fortunately we found a lovely wild camping spot on some machair overlooking the beach just a few km down the road. We set up camp and were preparing to cook dinner when the owner of the land pulled up in his car. He said there was no problem with us camping there but wanted to warn us not to go near the electrified fence on the other side of his property! Although we knew we were legally allowed to camp there it was still a bit of an awkward coversation - though he was nice enough and he soon left us to finish cooking dinner.

Wild camp spot on Benbecula

Dinner with a view (the fire looks weird because of the camera exposure, it was not acutally that big!)

The following morning we again took our time getting going, and once we did get on the road at about 10:30am we realised that we now had a pretty significant headwind as although we were generally heading north, the layout of the roads actually meant that we were heading eastwards, into the wind, for much of the time.

It was hard going cycling into the wind and the sighting of a hotel with cafe in Carinish was a welcome sight. We stopped in and had some of the best vegetable soup we've had in the UK. At this point we assessed our ferry options and realised we could take it very easy in the afternoon to make the evening ferry to Harris, so we decided to take the long way around the west of North Uist as well.

Excellent food at the Temple View Hotel

We stopped in at a smokehouse and Alberto bought some local salmon, and again explored some beaches off the main road. We ran into one of the cyclists from the ferry to Barra, he had already been up to Harris and was on his way back down, after his boat trip to St Kilda was cancelled due to low demand. We thought how sad it would be to go all that way and not be able to get to St Kilda, which he had always wanted to go to!

Later in the afternoon the wind had changed and we had a bit of a headwind again as we headed for the ferry to Harris. We were a bit worried about timings so didn't stop to pick up any food or water. We hoped we'd be able to find something on the other side and find a wild camp spot before sunset.

Heading for the ferry

(to be continued!)

Touring the Outer Hebrides Part II: The Isle of Barra

View of Castlebay as the ferry approaches

We arrived on Barra just before sunset and made our way the 5km or so to Vatersay, on the recommendation of both of the other cyclists on the ferry. It's a tiny island connected to Barra by a causeway, with beautiful beaches and very quiet. We managed to find the spot where apparently everyone wild camps, a stretch of machair and beach on both sides of the road. We later learned that there are public toilet facilities at one end of this area which we did not know to take advantage of - but we didn't miss them. We cooked a quick dinner of filled pasta with bacon and tomato sauce, and fell asleep to the sound of the waves gently breaking on the sand. We didn't know it yet, but we'd be camping next to the beach almost every night of the trip.

Our Vatersay campsite in the morning

We awoke to glorious sunny skies, if a bit cold. We were in no hurry as we planned to spend a second night on Barra (and it really is not that big!) so we went for a bit of a walk after breakfast, checking out some of our surroundings. It was very quiet, with just two other people camping in the area. I can imagine in the summer the space gets much more full of tents.

Beach on the other side of our camp spot

We explored the rest of Vatersay (there's not very much of it!) and then headed back onto Barra where we made a beeline for Castlebay. By this time it was nearly midday so we were thinking about food again! We explored the town (which took all of about 10 minutes) and stopped in at the tourist information office where they didn't seem to be so informed about the flights arriving and leaving from Barra airport - which was on our list of things to see. Luckily we had phone signal so were able to check on the internet and time our trip around the island accordingly.

Vatersay -- Cariribean or Outer Hebrides?

We ate lunch in Kismul Cafe right on the harbor, which features heavily in the BBC reality series An Island Parish that first alerted us to the existence of Barra. I felt a bit starstruck walking inside, as everything looked exactly as it did on TV! About halfway through our meal the owner of the cafe walked in who I had seen many times on the programme  - about as close to a celebrity as someone in the Outer Hebrides can get I imagine!

Exploring Barra

After lunch we set off counter-clockwise around Barra, which had some good hills but even better views. We made it to the airport with about an hour to spare so explored the peninsula to the north of it before heading back, eating a quick snack in the shelter from the wind, and waiting to watch the flight come in. Barra airport is the only one in the world that uses a beach as a runway for its regurlarly scheduled flights. The beach at low tide is expansive, but the flight times have to change a few minutes each day to stay in line with the tides. Alberto really wanted to stay and see the flight land and take off again, so we did. We had a quick tea in the airport's cafe (also the departure area -- the place was tiny) and then continued on our way around Barra.

Flight landing at Barra Airport

We decided that we could do with a shower after two nights of wild camping so we headed to the campsite near Borve on the west side of the island. It is a small campsite, with not a lot of room for actual tents, but we were the only tent staying there (along with a few campervans) so it worked for us. The facilities as still being worked on but there were really nice hot showers, a kitchen area with kettle and microwave, and a washing machine that was in the process of being installed. Much nicer than many of the campsites we've been to England, and all for £12 for the two of us.

We enjoyed our showers so much that it was again dark as we set to cooking dinner--egg noodles and veggie "stir fry" with a sweet chili sauce, plus some microwaveable rice packets as a second course. It was great to make use of the kitchen facilities for some of this and I can imagine if it was wet outside the kitchen would be a godsend.

Borve campsite

We woke up at what we believed to be 7am, plenty of time to get the 11am ferry to Eriskay... until we realised a few moments later that we had forgotten about the start of British Summer Time and it was actually 8! We packed relatively quickly and were fortunately able to get hot water from the kettle which made breakfast a lot quicker as well. It still took a good two hours, and we were on the road by 10:05 to cycle the 45 minutes to the ferry terminal (near the airport). We made it pretty much right on time!

(to be continued!)